


The Family Business

by KarkatHorns



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alterniearth AU, Other, PTSD Kankri, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Stabdad, Stabdad AU, celibate kankri
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-31
Updated: 2014-07-31
Packaged: 2018-02-11 04:20:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2053374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KarkatHorns/pseuds/KarkatHorns
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kankri Vantas has PTSD over events he cannot remember, and with no trauma that he can recall. He still wants to fight for the people, and he understands the potential of a roll in the midnight crew. </p><p>Gang life is something that needs to be kept a secret, but how can somebody who stays up past three function in a world where teenagers must go to class by 7:20?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Family Business

The air is cold and bitter. If Kankri could describe the taste it puts into his mouth, only the stale taste of rust and salt would come to mind. Then again, nothing can quite describe the smell of the fear. It's all much too familiar to the troll. He's been here before. Countless times, in fact. Yet every time he makes it here, he can only come to the same conclusion.

_They don't fall like you think they would._

The Signless gazes upon the crowd, some cheering on the scene and others wishing it would stop. He's talking, but the words refuse to reach his ears. There's a lot of discord from the crowd below. A woman sits, being held back, and Kankri can see how she fights back her tears. No pain he feels can be stronger than that his mother does. This isn't a quick, slow death. Every second it feels as if lead is being poured onto him. It becomes a little harder to breathe. His heartbeat is poundings. He's still talking. Something akin to peace and equality. Yet, nobody is listening.

They never do.

Right when the feeling of the tight handcuffs on his wrist becomes as tight as his head is starting to feel, he sees it. The pulling back of a bow. It's headed towards him and it's going by both too slowly and too quickly. When it reaches him, he lets out a loud curse as it easily cuts through muscle and flesh.

Kankri Vantas wakes up with a piercing scream, curling up and holding his side. His blankets feel suffocating. He pulls down his sleeves and holds his wrists close to his chest, unable to tolerate any kind of pressure on them. His sside aches with a phantom pain he has never experienced. It takes the figure of his father in the doorway for him to realize that the crowd is no longer there.

Everything is a dull blur. Spades tells him a few things that don't really register at first. The feeling of danger is still here. It's still present, as if any moment he's going to be executed all over again. He's breathing roughly, and trying to get a grip on reality. Finally what Spades is saying is starting to make sense.

Spades only sees the frightened, anxious figure of his son curled up in his sheets. Karkat is out in the hallway, a bit startled and confused. The kid rubs the bags under his eyes, deep and dark. They're from the game he's been playing through every night. He doesn't get any sleep playing that MMORPG of his. Then again, Kankri had once played through the beta version of the same game when he was Karkat's age.

The Stabdad moves Kankri's blanket around him, using it to block out the other shapes and shadows of the room. Kankri looks like a deer in headlights, though he's quiet now.  
"Hey kid. Everythin's gonna be okay. Ain't anythin' or an'ybody gonna hurt ya. I'd stab'em if anybody thought'a bout it," Spades assures, once again. His voice is a bit quieted, calmer and gentle from years of experience with this. Karkat goes off to his room, after waiting for a bit.

Kankri takes a little while to cool down. He isn't sure what to say, other than apologizing. Spades hates when he apologizes for something he had no control over. Kankri didn't wake up and say 'I'm going to have a panic attack now.' He woke up and his body jumped right into it. And yet, Kankri apologizes because he feels bad about it. He feels bad for waking everyone and scaring everybody. That he startled awake somebody that sleeps with knives, and a kid that barely gets enough sleep as it is.

"I apologize, dad, for the disruption at this hour of the morning. I understand that you have likely just come home from work, and that-" Kankri starts. Spades cuts him off before he finishes.  
"No reason to 'polizige. You gonna be able to get back to sleep?" he asks. Kankri replies with a pause.  
"I will try to rest some more for tonight, though I would prefer to to take some more time to cool down. I will likely make some tea of some variety, and listen to music of some sort. Thank you very much for helping me calm down," Kankri manages. Spades nods at this and gives Kankri's hair a bit of a ruffle.

"G'night, kid."

Kankri watches the door close as his heartbeat begins to ease down. Breathing in and out is a process that's counted slowly and carefully. He keeps his nightside lamp on, watching the light shift on the ceiling as his fan moves around. It's going to be another long, hard night. Then again, it always is. 

Sometimes sleeping during the day is more than an act of his bloodline.


End file.
